Battling Anchor lose seven-goal thriller

“We played well, but just couldn’t get the luck,” said Crown and Anchor manager Jan Scrivens after they lost 4-3 to the Coach and Horses at the weekend.

It was a much improved performance from the Stafford and District Sunday League team as they showed plenty of the ‘spirit’ that Scrivens had called for in the days leading up to the match.

The only game in the division this weekend started at a whirlwind pace, with three goals inside the first 10 minutes. The Coach and Horses took the early initiative, going 2-1 up after the Anchor’s Alex Underwood had cancelled out the visitors’ opener.

The Coach then began to press forward in search of more goals, and they were rewarded for their exploratory play after half an hour when a long-range effort flew into the top corner of the Anchor net, leaving goalkeeper Scott Banks as little more than a spectator.

However, after the game Scrivens said that he was pleased with his team’s “battling performance” and the Anchor continued to echo their manager’s feelings when they got a goal back just after half time, all be it a fortunate one.

As the elements began to work in the Anchor’s favour John Burdon saw his corner kick get caught up in the wind and blown past both defenders on the Coach goal line and their keeper to make the score 3-2 to the visitors.

The Coach didn’t allow this setback to get to them as they pressed forward once again, and when the ball found the back of the Anchor net once more, the hosts had more work to do.

After 70 minutes the ball was flung into the box via an Ian Whalley throw-in only to be met by the head of Steven Bott, whose flick on nestled in the bottom right hand corner of the Coaches net after no-one else could get a touch on the ball.

Unfortunately for the Anchor, however, they couldn’t find an equalizer in the remaining 20 minutes, regardless of them having numerous chances at the death.

After the game, Scrivens spoke of his admiration for his side. He said: “We played well today but unfortunately that wasn’t enough. They are a high quality side who we have run close.

“If we are to go down though, I feel that it’s performances like this that will ensure we bounce straight back to where we belong.”

The Anchor have a free week coming up next on their fixture list so unless they can get a rearranged match pencilled in for then, they will have more time to reflect on this weekend’s result.

It’s a different story, however, for those at the Coach and Horses, as they now go level on points with second placed Riverway A.